Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Despite being born in the same year and enjoying overlapping enduring
careers, Oscar-winners Meryl Streep (for Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie’s Choice and
The Iron Lady) and Jeff Bridges (for Crazy Heart) never made a movie together
prior to The Giver. Such a long overdue collaboration proves well worth the
wait in this haunting, sci-fi adventure set in a deceptive dystopia
masquerading as heaven on Earth.

The film is based on the Lois Lowry best-seller of the same name
which won the Newbery Award as America’s best
children’s book of 1994. This author-approved adaptation was directed by
Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games) who tapped fellow Aussie Brenton Thwaites to portray
the young hero, Jonas.

The picture’s point
of departure is the young protagonist’s graduation day, when he participates in
a coming-of-age ritual during which 18 year-olds are assigned a profession by the
elders of their idyllic community. Jonas’ BFFs Asher (Cameron Monaghan) and
Fiona (Odeya Rush) soon learn that they’ll be trained as a drone pilot and a
nurturer, respectively.

Jonas, however, long
recognized as special, because of an uncanny ability to see things differently,
is designated the “Receiver of Memories,” the protégé of the “Giver” (Bridges).
In that capacity, he quickly becomes aware that the whole society is a charade
which shields its citizens from the fact that there is suffering in the world
by injecting them once a day with a drug which keeps them naïve, obedient and blissfully
content.

Truth be told, evil
does exist in their midst, though invariably veiled, such as how the sick and the
old are “Released” in a fashion that gives no hint that they’re actually being
euthanized. And Jonas experiences a crisis of conscience in choosing whether to
obediently follow in the Giver’s footsteps or to upset the apple cart by
letting the cat out of the bag about how everybody’s mind is being controlled.

Among the factors
influencing his critical decision is the unexpected pleasure associated with the
“Stirrings,” the formerly-suppressed pangs of sexual awakening he suddenly feels
for Fiona. Another involves the impending euthanizing of a baby with a birth
defect (Alexander Jillings) he’s already bonded with.

Besides the historic
pairing of Streep and Bridges, the film features sterling performances by
the trio of emerging thespians playing the leads, as well as by Katie Holmes
and Taylor Swift in support roles. A thought-provoking meditation on mind
control offering a valuable lesson about the virtue of challenging any
totalitarian authority.

No comments:

Subscribe via email

Subscribe via RSS

The Sly Fox Film Reviews

KamWilliams.com

The Sly Fox Film Reviews publishes the content of film critic Kam Williams. Voted Most Outstanding Journalist of the Decade by the Disilgold Soul Literary Review in 2008, Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications around the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada and the Caribbean. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee and Rotten Tomatoes.

In addition to a BA in Black Studies from Cornell, he has an MA in English from Brown, an MBA from The Wharton School, and a JD from Boston University. Kam lives in Princeton, NJ with his wife and son.